Daily Archives: March 12, 2009

The discovery of a new bird to science in a distant archipelago is providing evidence of how, in the absence of competitors, unique species can evolve rapidly to fill empty niches. But the archipelago is not the Galapagos, and the bird is not one of Darwin’s finches.

The new species has been named Vanikoro White-eye Zosterops gibbsi. The formal description was published in Ibis by Dr Guy Dutson of Birds Australia (BirdLife in Australia), who led a recent expedition to the island of Vanikoro to gather evidence about the bird. Its scientific name gibbsi is in honour of the first person to see the species – David Gibbs.

Vanikoro White-eye differs from other family members by having a distinctively shaped bill; along with different leg and eye-ring colours.

Vanikoro is a small island in the south-west Pacific, in the Solomon Islands archipelago. The rugged volcanic island with steep, forest-covered hills was visited by Jules D’Urville in 1829 – six years prior to The Beagle landing in the Galapagos – who collected specimens of Vanikoro Flycatcher Myiagra vanikorensis and Uniform Swiftlet Collocalia vanikorensis.

“Genetic research has shown that white-eyes evolve new species faster than any known bird family,” said Guy Dutson. “Islands only 3 km apart in the Solomons have their own white-eye species, and the Solomon Islands alone have 13 species of white-eye.

White-eyes are small sociable birds of tropical forests. As their common name implies, many have a conspicuous ring of tiny white feathers around their eyes. The Vanikoro White-eye differs from the geographically closest white-eye, the Santa Cruz White-eye Z. sanctaecrucis, by having a longer bill, and different leg and eye-ring colour.

Vanikoro White-eyes are found in forest habitats, mostly above 350 m, and feed on insects and small fruits. “Vanikoro White-eyes were abundant towards the summit of the highest mountain”, noted Dr Dutson, who observed an active nest during his expedition. “Up to three adults fed chicks at a single nest, suggesting cooperative breeding, which has only been documented in two other white-eye species”.

Benedict’s lifting of the Williamson excommunication drew widespread criticism because of the bishop’s appearance in a January interview during which he denied that 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis. He told Swedish TV about 200,000 or 300,000 were murdered but none were gassed.

The Rome newspaper Il Foglio said the pope writes that the Vatican should have been aware of the statements, which were being carried on the Internet. Benedict also faults the Vatican for not explaining its actions on Williamson in a “sufficiently clear” way, the conservative-leaning daily said.

According to the ANSA news agency, Benedict defends himself by saying that the overlapping of the rehabilitation of Williamson and the interview was “unpredictable.” …

The bid to explain the case comes only a few days after Benedict confirmed that he would visit Israel in May as part of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Vatican-Jewish relations already were complicated by the church’s defense of World War II Pope Pius XII, whom Benedict has hailed as a “great” churchman. Some Jewish groups and others say Pius didn’t do enough try to stop the Holocaust during World War II, while the Holy See insists he used quiet diplomacy to try to help Jews. …

Williamson’s case sparked outrage among Jewish groups and in Israel as well as among Catholic bishops in Germany.

Bowing to criticism by Jewish groups, historians and others, the Vatican demanded on 4 February that Williamson “absolutely and unequivocally distance himself” from his Holocaust denial.

Last month, he apologized for the “hurt” that his remarks caused, but he didn’t recant what he said. The Vatican called that apology inadequate.

After the furor, Williamson was ordered to leave Argentina, where he had been living, and returned to his native Britain.

State prosecutors in Germany have opened an investigation into whether Williamson broke German laws against Holocaust denial.

Pope will lay wreath at Holocaust museum but many Israelis still angry over Vatican’s war record: here.

Pontiff criticised for not apologising for Catholic church’s conduct during the second world war: here.

AIDS activists accused the Pope of spreading “blatant falsehoods” on Wednesday after he claimed that condoms are worsening Africa’s devastating HIV epidemic: here.

Muntazer al-Zaidi, 30, who worked for the al-Baghdadiya television channel, had earlier pleaded not guilty and said his actions had been a “natural response to the occupation”.

He was given the three-year sentence for assaulting a foreign head of state during an offcial visit.

After the verdict was announced, his relatives erupted in anger, shouting that the decision was unjust and unfair.

Zaidi denied charges of aggression against a foreign head of state as his trial resumed after a three-week hiatus.

Under a Saddam Hussein-era law, he could have faced up to 15 years in prison. …

The trial took place at the central criminal court in Baghdad’s Green Zone, which is normally reserved for terrorism cases.

Several Iraqi politicians had attended the first session, seeing it as a test of the country’s post-Saddam judiciary.

In that session, Zaidi, draped in an Iraqi flag, told the court how his anger had boiled over as he watched Bush “smiling that icy smile” while standing next to the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

Bush spoke of “progress” in Iraq since 2003 and the leaders having dinner together.

“I thought about what the achievements were – killing about a million Iraqis,” Zaidi said. “I saw only Bush and it was like something black in my eyes.”

The journalist took off his shoes and threw them at Bush, who ducked behind a lectern. …

Prior to the start of the trial, Zaidi claimed he had been beaten and tortured while in custody.

The document, drafted for the UN General Assembly by Special Rapporteur Martin Scheinen, indicts the US specifically for numerous violations of international law, including the use of torture.

It goes on to state, however, that Washington could not have carried out these crimes without the aid of numerous allies. The help extended to it, moreover, has had the effect of “corrupting the institutional culture of the legal and institutional systems” of many additional countries. And, in some instances, states have used the war on terror to switch from ordinary law enforcement to the use of special intelligence agencies so as to circumvent democratic safeguards.

The British government is seeking to cover up its role in the illegal “extraordinary rendition”—kidnappings and torture—programme run by the United States: here.

In a sign of the panic gripping Washington’s policy-makers, one of Barack Obama’s key economic advisors, Paul Volcker, warned a Columbia University gathering that the crash of 2008 might be “the mother of all financial crises”: here.

The world economic crisis continues to roil the Indian economy, damaging both its immediate and longer term prospects and exacting a mounting toll of job losses in a country where there is no social safety net and millions already live in abject poverty: here.

Britain: THE TUC condemned pleas by fat-cats’ club the CBI on Wednesday for “bacon-saving” bailouts before the G20 summit: here.

RECESSION-HIT City tycoon Brian Myerson went to the Court of Appeal on Wednesday in a bid to get a cut in the £9.5 million divorce settlement he made with his former wife: here.

DISABLED rights protesters furious at the new Welfare Bill were forcibly removed by police on Wednesday after attempting to block traffic outside Downing Street: here.